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Mike Horn Evo 16

When the Mike Horn model was released a couple of years ago it was revolutionary, what with its dual one handed opening blades, round awl and special scales made from recycled plastic bottles and wood pulp.It stands as a testament to the lengths to which Wenger is going to ensure that professional adventurers like Mike Horn are getting exactly what they need to keep doing what they do.So far, they’ve been succeeding.

I initially had mixed feelings on the new Mike Horn EVO 17.On the one hand, it’s a good knife, with virtually the same tool load out as a Victorinox Huntsman- large blade, scissors, wood saw, can and bottle openers, corkscrew and awl, although the EVO 17 swaps out the small blade for a nail file.It’s a good knife that can handle just about anything you may need a knife to do, and yet I couldn’t get excited about this latest incarnation.

Despite it being a useful, handy knife, and even though the fancy Mike Horn style scales look good, I had to wonder why there’s a need forMike Horn version of this knife?It’s functional, it looks good, but what’s the reason for having a higher priced, fancy name version of the same knife you can get with Evolution, EVOGrip or EVOWood scales already?Wenger has done a good job of producing dedicated and customized knives for the adventurous, whether it be the bright yellow EVOGrip Patagonian Expedition knives, the Alinghi racing knives, the Ueli Steck titanium knife or even the original Mike Horn model, which makes me wonder why they would bother to make a redressed EVO16?

So, I dashed off a short note to someone at Wenger and was told that the knife was actually developed for the Young Explorer’s Program, which is a group of young people that get to travel with Mike for a short period during his various expeditions.The email says it better than I could, so I hope Peter doesn’t mind me reprinting it here:

Hi Grant,

No problem! The Mike Horn Evo knife was developed for the YEP of Mike’s Pangaea expedition. This program, that can best be understood if you check the official web site of Mike Horn’s expedition:

As you have seen, these are young people who are traveling with Mike for about a week each time. We wanted to give a fully functional knife similar to Mike’s knife but smaller and less heavy. In addition to this, please remember, the scales of Mike’s knife are partially made of recyclable wood. And so are the scales of the Mike Horn Evo knife.

Handle material: Is recyclable and is produced partly with PEFC (Pan European Forest Certificate) wood that replaces polypropylene, commonly found in durable plastics. As a natural material, wood is a renewable and therefore inexhaustible resource if harvested in correctly managed forests.

I trust this is answering your questions.

Best regards,

Peter

It should go without saying that I thank Peter for his information, but I’ll say it anyway!Thanks again for enlightening me!

Given that this knife is actually meant for something made me feel a lot better about it and I started to enjoy it a little more.Long time readers here will know that I really like this compliment of tools, and the 85mm size is very pocketable.If I had a complaint about this knife, it would be the lack of a PackLock system for the main blade, but since I have been carrying a SAK for almost 30 years now, I should be used to a slip jointed blade!And, chances are if you are reading this website, you are too.